ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Attorney General Anwarul Haq to present the draft and other relevant record of the National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance 2010.
A three-member bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday also directed the petitioner, PML-N Senator Syed Zafar Ali Shah, to provide solid evidence today (Wednesday) to prove his claims that the president did not consult the prime minister while issuing the NAB Amendment Ordinance 2010.
In his arguments, Shah contended that the president promulgated the NAB amendment ordinance without mandatory consultation with the prime minister, which was unconstitutional. Shah told the court that he had asked the officials concerned for details of the speech of the prime minister, however, he had not been provided the same so far.He said the nation came to know about the ordinance on October 1, 2010.
The court, however, noted that the gazette notification of the ordinance was issued on September 16, 2010. Shah said he had also made the press a respondent in the petition just to know when the ordinance was issued and when was it published in the press. Justice Ramday said a law pertaining to Access to Information had been passed while it had also been included in basic human rights. “You can get the information from the printing press as well,” he added. “You are including personalities like the president and prime minister in the issue, but do not provide the court solid evidences in this regard,” the chief justice said.
